Truist Financial Reaffirms Buy Rating for Ball (NYSE:BALL)

Ball (NYSE:BALL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at Truist Financial in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $76.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $78.00. Truist Financial‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 15.76% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup lowered Ball from a “buy” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Ball from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.08.

Ball Trading Up 3.9%

Ball stock traded up $2.44 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $65.65. The stock had a trading volume of 662,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,366,018. Ball has a twelve month low of $46.06 and a twelve month high of $68.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.38 billion, a PE ratio of 18.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.95.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $4.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 18.76% and a net margin of 6.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.02 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ball will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ball news, SVP Mandy Glew sold 5,626 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.80, for a total value of $358,938.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,209 shares in the company, valued at $459,934.20. This represents a 43.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ball

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BALL. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 8.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,416,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $837,196,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,861 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in Ball during the 2nd quarter worth $96,380,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Ball during the 2nd quarter worth $160,506,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its stake in Ball by 90.7% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 81,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,104,000 after buying an additional 38,896 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Ball by 3,687.6% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 72,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,077,000 after buying an additional 70,839 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

More Ball News

Here are the key news stories impacting Ball this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho raised its price target to $75 from $72 and reiterated an “outperform” rating, signaling confidence in further upside. Mizuho rating information
• Positive Sentiment: Ball’s Q3 comparable EPS of $1.10 topped estimates, while revenue increased 23.9% year over year to $4.19 billion, supported by higher volumes and favorable price/mix. Q3 earnings analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: JPMorgan downgraded Ball from “overweight” to “neutral,” but set a $65 target, modestly above the cited share price. The rating change tempers the positive view from Mizuho. JPMorgan rating information
• Negative Sentiment: Shares fell in premarket trading after the results. Coverage pointed to cost pressures and shrinking operating margins as potential offsets to sales growth; Ball also reported a GAAP diluted loss of $0.36 per share for the quarter. Q3 results and share reaction

About Ball

Ball Corporation is a global supplier of sustainable aluminum packaging. The company primarily manufactures aluminum beverage cans, bottles and cups used by beer, soft-drink, energy-drink and other beverage companies. Its products are designed to support brand presentation, product protection and recycling throughout the packaging lifecycle.

Ball serves customers across North and South America, Europe and other international markets through a network of manufacturing facilities. The company also develops and markets aluminum packaging products for additional consumer and household applications, including its reusable and recyclable Ball Aluminum Cup.

Founded in 1880 as a manufacturer of glass containers, Ball evolved into a major producer of metal packaging and became particularly known for its aluminum beverage cans.